by Liza Street
Justine wouldn’t mind staying here a little longer, but it wasn’t meant to be. She’d been driven off from the Sierra Pride, and now she’d be driven off from the Corona Pride.
A rushing sound reached her ears. Lifting her head, she listened. Someone else was here—another mountain lion. If Rafe was here to spoil her last Montana run, she’d claw his face off.
But the lion who stepped into the clearing wasn’t Rafe or Gloria or Julian. Sniffing, Justine raised her gaze to the other mountain lion in surprise. It was Mateo.
This was even worse than Rafe. For thirty stupid minutes she wanted to be on her own and forget all the drama and weirdness of the Corona family so she could think about going home. Why was it so much to ask?
He stepped toward her cautiously and she crouched as if waiting to pounce on him. He sat on his haunches, watching her.
This was not acceptable.
She shrugged into herself, pushing her lion back inside until she stood up in front of him as a human.
“What the hell, Mateo?”
six
It took a couple of minutes for Mateo’s mountain lion brain to catch up with his human brain. She was speaking to him, gesticulating wildly with her hands. He’d come out here for a serious reason, something about Barrett. But as soon as he’d scented Justine, his lion decided it was time to run and play—not to talk and fight.
She was beautiful as a woman, so it shouldn’t have surprised him how gorgeous she was as a lion. Her coat was the color of honey, and her deep blue eyes were the same color in either form. Now they were flashing with anger.
He forced himself to listen.
“…peace and quiet, and you come out here with your holier-than-thou attitude, thinking I’d repay your family by ‘ruining their happiness’ when Barrett is coming—”
Huffing loudly, he shifted back to human and stood up, facing her.
“I need to tell you something,” he said.
Justine either didn’t hear him or didn’t care, and continued on about “respecting peoples’ privacy and if you’re going to be an ass, why can’t you just leave them alone and be an ass in your own territory—”
“Would you stop ranting for two seconds and listen to me?”
Justine stopped in midsentence and looked at him. Her lips parted slightly as her gaze went from his face and down to his chest and stomach. He was impressed she didn’t glance at his groin—impressed, and disappointed. Then again, if she had, he would’ve gotten hard in an instant, so it was better this way. And she was naked, too. As a lion he could look on her with a little more objectivity, but now it took all of his willpower to keep his eyes on her face.
She waved at him. “Hi. Still with me? So you had something important to say?”
“Oh,” he said, clearing his throat. “Yeah. Barrett’s here.”
Justine grinned. “That’s great! Let’s go meet him. Or, wait. You wanted me gone before he got here. Well, it’s not my damn fault—I thought I had until tomorrow, so before you go kicking me to the curb—”
“Justine, please. Stop. I met Al Gunser. The adoption guy.”
Her big blue eyes narrowed. “And he’s a creep, right?”
“Right.” Mateo wasn’t sure what kind of a creep he was, but he’d gotten a weird vibe from Gunser. “But Barrett’s here, so I don’t think we really need to worry about it. I mean, everybody’s happy.”
“Good,” she said, her face unreadable. “I’ll be gone in the morning.”
“No, wait,” he rushed to say. Stepping over toward her, he took her hand. Her skin was soft, and he couldn’t help but smooth his thumb over her palm. “You were right. You don’t have to go.”
She cocked her head and considered him. “Hmm. You say I was right, and I don’t have to go. And yet, I don’t hear anything like an apology coming from your lips.”
He started to respond with an apology, but then he noticed the twinkle in her blue eyes, the almost-smile she wore, the light tone in her voice.
Was she—holy shit, she was flirting with him. Was he reading this situation correctly? He softly inhaled, trying to scent the air without being obvious about it. He smelled her, her piney, warm-fur scent. He also smelled the sweetness of her arousal. His own body stiffened in response. “I give good apology.”
Her eyes widened. “I bet you do.”
Things were moving fast. All of their anger, all of their interactions over the past couple of days, all the attraction he’d been trying to ignore—it was all concentrating here in this quiet moment in the woods of his family’s territory.
She reached out and stroked the side of his face, rubbing his stubble. When she grinned as though she liked what she felt, he captured her finger in his hand and suckled it gently.
Gasping, she leaned forward, as if she couldn’t help herself.
Mateo wanted more than anything to be with her tonight. Possibly every night after this. He didn’t see himself ever getting bored with this fierce woman. “What kind of apology do you require, señorita?”
“Well, groveling goes a long way.” She gave him a grin. “I like a good grovel.”
He leaned closer to whisper in her ear, glorying in how she smelled even better up close. “I’ll kneel at your feet.”
Without hesitation, he got down on the ground. Damn, he should have thought that through, or maybe his dick had made the decision, because now he was eye-level with her pussy.
Her voice was breathy when she said, “I’m still waiting for that apology.”
“Grab those branches above you and hang on.” He touched her knee lightly.
She shivered, and he moved his hand up her thigh.
“Is this okay?” he whispered.
“Yes.”
He went higher still, and he could smell that she was even wetter. She was so ready for him. He looked up at her face, at her half-closed eyes, her parted lips. “Still okay?”
She nodded.
“Can you say it for me, cariña?”
“Y-yes.”
He ran his fingers over her wetness, playing there, touching her sensitive lips. The tree branches creaked where she’d grabbed them. Poor girl was losing her balance because of his touch.
Laughing softly, he used one arm to help brace her legs, his hand snaking around her backside to grip her opposite hip. Then he placed his mouth against her pussy.
She let out a moan, and it was the sexiest thing he’d ever heard. He licked and sucked, alternating sweet and aggressive kisses, lapping at her with his tongue. She shook against him, her body pleading with him for release, and when he plunged a finger into her, crooking it in a “come hither” gesture, she quaked and cried out his name.
Keeping his arm around her, he stood up. “Was that a satisfactory grovel?”
Nodding, she licked her lips. “Come back here,” she whispered.
She let go of the branches and tugged him closer, taking his mouth with hers. She tasted sweet, just as sweet as her pussy had tasted, as her tongue explored his mouth and he explored hers in turn. With warm fingers, she grabbed his cock.
He groaned into her mouth, his mind full of her name, full of her scent, full of her touch. And when she slid him inside her, he had to gasp for breath in order to speak. “I can’t—no condom.”
“I’m on the pill.”
STDs weren’t an issue—shifters’ metabolism fought off infections—and so he delved into her, eliciting another moan from them both. He touched her ass, her hips, her breasts, rolling and tweaking her nipples in his fingers, causing her to wriggle against him and move her hips for more friction.
He tightened and jerked inside of her, emptying himself and feeling like something momentous and special had happened, something he couldn’t categorize and didn’t even want to name. All he knew was that he didn’t want to let go of her, he wanted to stare into those deep blue eyes until the end of time, and taste her dewy skin, and revel in her scent.
seven
Justine woke late,
stretching and feeling a delicious soreness between her legs. It was hard to believe last night had happened, after all the angst Mateo had put her through, but at the same time it had felt so right, and true. It was as if their coupling had been lacking from her life all along.
Neither of them had wanted to return to the lodge afterward, and she’d had to squirm away from Mateo with the threat that his mom would be very interested in where they’d both been, before he would let her go. He’d also extracted a promise from her: that she wouldn’t leave Montana for as long as possible.
She texted Cora. You okay with me not coming home for a few days?
Cora’s response was immediate. Please. I’m drowning in people who want to help me feel better. Gabe won’t let me out of his sight for longer than an hour.
Okay. Let me know if you change your mind.
I won’t change my mind.
Justine could just imagine the hovering Cora was experiencing at the Fournier house. Gabriel had a protective streak stronger than anyone she’d ever met. She’d never tried to analyze it, but she suspected it had to do with their family losing Starla. Gabriel and Starla had been really close.
Justine rolled out of bed. If she wasn’t leaving today, she needed to explain why. Hopefully Gloria wouldn’t object to the abrupt change of plans.
After a shower and getting dressed, she haunted the empty halls of the lodge. Most of the guests were checking out today. Gloria had blocked off a month of no guests so she would be able to better bond with her new kitten. Now, Justine found Gloria standing in Barrett’s doorway, checking on him while he rested.
“Gloria?” Justine whispered, sidling up to her in the hallway.
“Yes?” Gloria closed Barrett’s door and gestured for Justine to follow her a few steps away.
“How is he?”
“Sad. Confused. I can smell the emotions all over him.” Gloria shook her head. “I wish I could take away his pain. This is such a happy moment for our family, but it’s in the wake of such tragedy for him.”
The fire that had taken his family. Justine had overheard Gunser telling Gloria and Julian all about it. Barrett had come from a small pride, like Justine’s, where it was a single family making up the pride. His family’s home had caught fire, killing everyone in it. Barrett had been the only one to escape.
Justine squeezed Gloria’s shoulder. “It’ll take time, but I’m sure he’ll come to be happy again.”
“I hope so.”
Justine ran over her speech in her head one last time. There was no easy way to transition into her plans, so she simply said, “I changed my mind. About leaving. I’m sorry I lied to you about nobody upsetting me—it was Mateo. We weren’t getting along, but we’ve worked it out, and I’d really like to stay for a little while longer.”
“Of course,” Gloria said, smiling warmly. “But what about your pride? They’ll be awfully disappointed you’re not coming home to them—I could hear the truth in your voice when you said they need you.”
“I was thinking I’d like to visit them, soon. They say they don’t need me there, but I’d feel better after seeing them.”
Gloria nodded, then looked thoughtful. “You never seemed to have any reaction to my Rafe one way or the other. I hope you can maybe find it in your heart to give him another chance.”
Why not Mateo? Justine wanted to ask. Why was Gloria pushing Rafe? But Gloria had already moved down the hall to her own bedroom.
*
Barrett came downstairs around eleven, as Justine was checking out the last of the guests. He stood at the far edge of the reception counter and watched solemnly as Justine collected their keys and sent them off with some of Gloria’s cookies on a Corona Mountain Resort platter.
“You’re a cougar, too,” he said.
Justine nodded. “Yeah. I’m Justine. It’s nice to meet you, Barrett.”
He stared at her hand for a few minutes before finally taking it in his own.
“I’m from California,” Justine said. “I’ve been here for three years now, but I remember what it was like to be somewhere totally new, far from my pride.”
“I’m from…Wisconsin,” he said, scrunching up his face. “And my pride is dead.”
“I’m so sorry.” Justine closed her eyes, feeling a wave of sorrow for the kid. “I heard about the accident, and I can’t even imagine how awful it must be, even after all this time.”
He shook his head. “A week isn’t that long.”
“Only a week?” That didn’t make any sense.
He nodded. “It was last Monday.”
A week couldn’t be right, but he sounded so sure. Justine decided not to interrogate him about it—the poor kid was probably traumatized.
“That’s awful. You know, distractions won’t make the pain and loss go away, but they might help you forget for a little while. Do you want to throw a baseball around, or maybe explore the lodge?”
He took Justine’s hand and allowed her to lead him outside. She grabbed a baseball and a couple of mitts from the sports supplies locker, and they played catch. As the ball sailed between them, Justine watched Barrett’s face. He looked tired and old, wearied by a grief so strong she couldn’t even comprehend it. All she wanted to do was hug him close, but for right now, she could offer him a way to forget, for a few minutes, all the sorrow he’d left behind in Wisconsin.
*
Mateo kept catching Justine’s eye during lunch. Gloria didn’t seem to notice, as she was besotted with Barrett, but after a few minutes, Rafe threw down his sub sandwich and left the room.
“Sorry,” Gloria said. “I shouldn’t be ignoring the rest of you. Mateo, what do you have planned for today?”
“I thought I might go for a run. Maybe Justine will come, too?”
There was just enough heat behind the word “come” to make Justine blush. Nobody else could have noticed the double entendre, but Justine couldn’t ignore it.
Gloria and Julian’s attention was already back on Barrett.
Mateo winked at Justine.
With lunch over, Justine followed Mateo to the front porch of the lodge. Usually guests congregated here, swaying back and forth on the porch swing or the hammocks, sipping drinks from the lodge bar. Right now, with the guests gone, it was the perfect place for a quiet talk.
“I spoke to Barrett this morning,” Justine said.
“Cool kid, huh?”
“Yes, but I still have a bad feeling about this. His timeline is off. He says his family died in a fire last week, but it has to have been at least three weeks, because Gunser started talking to your parents about him then.”
Mateo stared hard at her, his dark brown eyes serious. “I believe you,” he said. “But Barrett’s only seven, and he’s been through a terrible ordeal. That’s a good explanation as any for a messed-up timeline.”
“Something feels wrong, Mat.”
A dimple showed up in his left cheek as he grinned. “Did you just give me a nickname? Watch out, or Gloria will wash your mouth out with soap.”
“Sorry,” she said, feeling her face grow hot. “I should’ve asked first—”
“No, no. People didn’t give me nicknames because my mom really discouraged them. But I like it.”
“Yeah?” She couldn’t help the billowy feeling expanding in her chest. “How about ‘Matty?’”
“Uh…hard pass on Matty.”
All she wanted to do was flirt with Mateo, but she had to focus on the problem at hand—poor Barrett, who’d lost everything and everyone he loved. “Do you think we could at least find out who else has adopted through Gunser?”
“Yeah, we could do that. But why?”
“If we talked to a couple of others, it could give us a good sense of whether anything weird is going on.”
“Do you think something weird’s going on?”
“Yeah,” she said. “I don’t know why, but I do.”
“Works for me,” Mateo said. “Maybe first we could go for that run? I co
uld come with you.”
She laughed. “One track mind. Look, I’m going to stay here for a few more days, at least, but with all the guests going, your parents don’t really need me around, and there’s plenty of staff here anyway.”
“I don’t think you should go at all.” He took her hand and pressed it to his chest, right over his heart.
“Well, maybe I’ll come back, if someone’s going to be here waiting for me. Hey, don’t you have a resort to run?”
He smiled. “The Corona Valley Lodge runs itself. I hang out there to get away from Rafe. But if you’re still here on Exchange—”
A sleek silver SUV revved up the drive and pulled to a stop. Mateo dropped Justine’s hand as a tall, olive-complexioned brunette stepped out of the vehicle. Justine frowned—they weren’t supposed to be getting any new guests.
“Matty!” the woman cried, launching herself into his arms.
That nickname, Matty. Cousin? Justine thought. Half-sibling? Childhood friend?
And then the woman kissed him on the mouth in a way that made something clench hard and fierce in Justine’s stomach.
“Hi, I’m Justine,” she said, holding out a hand to shake—the very hand with the very claws she was considering using on the woman’s eyeballs.
“Hi, I’m Laura.” The woman shook Justine’s hand. “I’m Matty’s girlfriend.”
eight
Mateo looked from Justine’s outraged face to Laura’s smiling one. Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Laura was goofing off—mostly—but Justine didn’t know that. He cleared his throat. “Yeah, um, so—”
Justine smiled sweetly at him. “I have some things to do. Laura, it was very nice meeting you.”
She turned to go.
He finally made his mouth work. “Wait, Justine. Where are you going?”
“To pack, of course. I changed my mind about staying an extra few days, so I thought I’d hitch a ride to town with Julian when he and the groundskeeper make their run to the dump. You know, when they get rid of the rest of the family’s unnecessary items and discards.”
